By Blake Colston
Sports Editor
Piedmont has no more room for error if it wants to play in the postseason.
Those are stakes for the Wildcats in tonight’s game at Lawton Eisenhower set to be played at Cameron Stadium at 7 p.m.
Piedmont (3-5, 2-3) and Ike (5-3, 3-2) are jockeying for the fourth and final playoff spot in District 5A-2. Guthrie, McGuinness and Carl Albert have a firm grip on the top three spots.
A win over the Eagles followed by a victory over Woodward in the season finale means PHS is playoff-bound. A loss to Ike means Piedmont would play only for pride against Woodward.
“Our kids are going to show up ready to go on Thursday night,” head coach Jeff Hall said. “They’re going to do everything in their power to win this football game.”
Piedmont enters the matchup with momentum, particularly on defense after an 18-0 loss to Bishop McGuinness last week. The Wildcats held the Irish to six points in three quarters after limiting Carl Albert to 21 points (not including a special teams touchdown) two weeks ago.
“We definitely feel good about it. Offensively, we had our opportunities and just didn’t capitalize in the red zone,” Hall said.
The Wildcats had a 33-yard field goal blocked and were stopped on the final play of the first half at the McGuinness 3-yard line, but there were still bright spots.
Cannon Wood led the way with 77 yards on 19 carries. Quarterback Josh Mars connected on four pass completions for 74 yards and narrowly missed on a 40-yard completion.
“(Cannon) and Izzy Robles are huge for us,” Hall said. “Cannon’s kind of the bruiser and Israel is the slasher and cutter. They’re both really, really good and they’re young so we’re going to have them for a while.”
Eisenhower’s defense allowed 42 points to Lawton MacArthur in the season opener and gave up 56 against
McGuinness earlier this season, so it could be a chance for Wood and Robles to find more open space than they have the last two games.
“I kind of feel like there will be some spots where those two can break free and cause some problems for their secondary,” Hall said.
Hall agreed that his team hasn’t played its best game yet this season. If Piedmont has saved it for tonight, that would be excellent timing.
“We’re going to have to tackle well in space like we have been lately,” Hall said of a key to
handling Eisenhower’s dynamic offense. “Offensively, we’re going to have to convert drives in the red zone into points. We have to score touchdowns.”
